Things to do in London this weekend (August 29-30)

Notting Hill Carnival is one of London’s annual highlights – it wouldn’t be summer in the city without it. Every late August bank holiday, the streets of west London are flooded with an explosion of colourful, feather-decked dancers, steel pan drums, booming basslines and plenty of Red Stripe-fueled good times. More than two million people flocked to Notting Hill to dance in the streets of W11 last time round, and we expect 2026 will be no different. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather, but the action will continue even if it’s chucking it down. Here’s everything you need to know about the Caribbean celebration. 

No London summer is complete without the Greenwich + Docklands International Festival – aka GDIF – which, as ever brings a spectacular array of gargantuan street theatre shows and spectacular installations to the streets of Greenwich and the Docklands for a couple of weeks in late summer. Running throughout August at multiple venues, the 2026 theme of ‘We Move’, carries on this week with Meet My By the Fountain (Romford Market, Aug 28 and 29), a stunning son-et-luminaire bringing Romford’s ‘lost’ Liberty Fountain back to life, and in probably the most ‘wow’ show of the festival Argentina’s Efectos Especiales (pictured, Aug 29 and 30, Greenwich Peninsular) which will thrust you into an actual action movie. 

Having outgrown its first home in Hackney Wick, London’s queer nightlife festival Body Movements levelled up in 2024 making a dazzling debut in Southwark Park with five stages showcasing the great and good of the LGBTQ+ party scene in the capital and beyond. We’re thrilled that the great and good of the London queer scene will once again come together in the same location for its 2026 edition, on the Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. This year, the five stages of Body Movements (Mother, The Strap, Snatch, Hot Mess, and Glory Hole) will be helmed by DJs including Babymorocco, Blasha & Allatt, FAFF, Roza Terenzi, Marie Malarie and GIDEÖN as well as collectives like Dalston Superstore, Daytimers, Fèmmme Fraîche and Queer House Party. More names are still to be announced. 

Situated on the most stylish block in central London, Café Clement is a glitzy all-day bistro on the ground floor of St Clement, the glammy new hotel from hospitality kingpin and founder of the Soho House empire, Nick Jones. Café Clement has already seen a rotating door of A-listers, in part due to the lure of Jones, but also thanks to the pull of former River Cafe head chef Danny Bohan, who’s hit the ground running with a menu of flair-packed French and Italian classics. Low-slung ceilings and frosted-glass partitions between beige leather booths make the place feel like vintage Manhattan on a financial upswing. The food is just as pleasant. Zucchini fritters are light, minty and stodge-free. A molten volcano masquerading as a cheese soufflé chuckles in the face of Mounjaro. Sea bass, gurnard, mussels and various mullets mingle with silky, flash-cooked tomato in a light and decadent stew. Impressive? Sure. Slightly mad? Also yes. 

Southwark Park festival Rally is back for a fourth edition in 2026, with a very exciting line-up curated by Blood Orange. Dev Hynes – AKA the guy behind Blood Orange – will bring his signature blend of synth funk, experimental beats and emotional depth. Hynes will headline and has hand-picked the rest of the line-up. Of course, we always knew we could trust his good taste. The rest of the fest’s programme includes Daniel Avery, ethereal electronic pop girlie james K and the legendary Glaswegian DJ duo Optimo (Espacio). 

Who wouldn’t enjoy a date with a movie that’s shiny and bright and brilliantly packaged? And who wouldn’t want to spend a couple of hours with Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, as they fall in and out of low-stakes love? There are some clever ideas in One Night Only, beginning with the intrigue of its central plot: with the United States now run by ultra-conservatives, single Americans are forbidden from sex 364 days a year. The movie opens on the 365th, as everyone in New York is prepping for the Big Event. If you’re a fan of Gluck’s standard romcoms Anyone But You or Friends With Benefits, you’ll appreciate this one.

This hugely popular installation from British artist Luke Jerram has been on a global tour over the last eight years, visiting more than 30 countries since it was first displayed at Bluedot Festival back in 2018. An internally lit, seven-metre-wide replica Earth made using detailed NASA imagery, the sculpture is supposed to give you a taste of the Overview Effect, the overwhelming sensation of connection to the planet and its inhabitants that astronomers describe when viewing our pale blue dot from outer space. Now it’s stopping off at Royal Festival Hall over the August bank holiday. Visitors can get up close to the sculpture suspended above the concert hall’s stage throughout the Saturday, or settle in for two atmospheric concerts. 

You’ve probably heard of London music festival All Points East, and as well as hosting gigs with a whole bunch of international megastars, it’s bringing back its community festival In The Neighbourhood in collaboration with Tower Hamlets Council. Taking place in the middle of the festival’s two weekends, it features loads of free family entertainment. Youngsters can get stuck into kids’ sports sessions hosted by local groups like Tower Hamlets Hockey Club, Adore Dance London, Limehouse Boxing Academy and Girls Allowed, while grown-ups can sign up for free barre, yoga and pilates classes. There’ll also be on-stage entertainment from the likes of Limehouse’s Half Moon Theatre, Whitechapel’s Tamaring Theatre and Bethnal Green arts venue Rich Mix. 

Hidden away on a quiet Deptford backstreet, The Dog and Bell is not only known for its charm and CAMRA-approved selection of real ales and craft beers, but it also knows how to put on a good food festival. August is the turn of its sausage and cider celebration. Expect proper bangers, fresh-pressed cider, and good old-fashioned fun. 

When American wrestling promotion AEW rocked up at Wembley Stadium in 2023 they managed to basically sell the place out, which is pretty impressive for what is essentially a weird, niche pseudo sport. However, ask anyone that did go, and they will tell you it’s a fantastic bloody time and if you’re a fan of cheering, beer, larger-than-life characters and jaw-dropping feats of athleticism you should definitely turn up for this year’s instalment. True fans will be ecstatic to see high-flying Essex export Will Ospreay headline the card, but there’s also more than enough hard-hitting, spectacular action to enthral casuals.

With his hedgehog of grey hair, primary coloured knits, and love of the chic and the feng-shui’ed, the writer-director in Pedro Almodóvar’s piquant and boldly meta two-timeline tragicomedy could easily be called ‘Pedro’ instead of Raul. Played by Argentinian actor Leonardo Sbaraglia, Raul is Almodóvar channelling himself through the harshest of lenses. It’s 2026. Raul is a veteran filmmaker grinding away at his first screenplay in several years. He’s become vampiric in pursuit of inspiration, sinking his teeth into the lives of those around him. Bitter Christmas finds the Spaniard at his most raw and introspective – looking inwards and not entirely enjoying what he finds. Never mind separating the art from the artist, Bitter Christmas asks if it’s the artist themself that needs to respect boundaries, and at what cost. Unlike Raul, Almodovar has lost none of his ability to surprise and provoke. 

In UK and Ireland cinemas Aug 28.

If a trip to Hampton Court has been on your to-do list, why not time your visit to coincide with this foodie extravaganza? Over the August Bank Holiday weekend entrance tickets to Henry VIII’s former gaff give you access to more than 150 speciality food stalls, so you can feast like like a Tudor king in the palace’s gorgeous green spaces. There's also pop-up bars, kids’ activities, and an array of local musicians taking to the bandstand to soundtrack your culinary adventure. 

It hasn’t always been clear why Matthew Warchus decided to reconfigure the Old Vic to an in-the-round set-up. But it does all pay off with this fine revival of an early Alan Ayckbourn classic. 1969’s How the Other Half Loves is explicitly written to be performed in-the-round with a single central set standing in for the homes of couples Frank and Fiona Foster and also Teresa and Bob Phillips. Moreover, time is telescoped and chopped up, so that two very different dinner parties that happen on consecutive nights at the two different homes are spliced together into one amusingly unpredictable whole. It’s a funny, zingy, intricately wrought and strangely wholesome play and it’s the brilliant comic performances that make this thing tick. Roger Allam is superb as Frank, and Dorothy Atkinson plays an increasingly panicked Fiona. How the Other Half Loves still sings, a clever, strangely sweet infidelity farce that’s of the ‘60s, but remains timelessly funny.

St Katharine Docks is always worth a visit, with its fascinating line-up of exclusive vessels bobbing on the water. Head there this August bank holiday weekend, and you'll find a big additional incentive: a summery jazz festival packed with sultry acts to enjoy by the water. The free programme features 15 artists performing over three days, on Marble Dock. This international crew include the docks’ artist-in-residence, jazz vocalist Olivia Swann, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Inés Nassara, pianist Jamie Safir and more. Pitch up and enjoy a laidback afternoon of new sounds. 

Death Note: The Musical is a remarkably faithful adaptation of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's classic mid-’00s Death Note manga, which concerns Light Yagami, a Tokyo high school student who (via a capricious death spirit) comes into possession of a book that kills anyone whose name is written in it. Frank Wildhorn, Jack Murphy and Ivan Menchell's adaptation is largely drawn from the first half of the series and simplifies the story in various ways. But it doesn't take any major liberties, other than the fact they’re all singing now. This is a gleefully bombastic, tightly drilled, visually impressive rock musical. It has a magnificently flexible avant-industrial set from Jon Bausor, and kinetic, beautifully stylised choreography from Fabian Aloise. It’s certainly never boring. 

Taiwanese artist Musquiqui Chihying uses a blend of installation, video, photography, and sculpture to explore our complicated relationship with technology and how modern-day tech systems are reshaping the ways we live our lives – all with a humorous and surreal edge. See four of the artist’s imaginative, idiosyncratic and quietly provocative works at this free Haywood Gallery exhibition. A Life of Navigation includes Chihying’s early works commenting on our hectic urban lives, as well as two newly produced video installations commenting on artificial intelligence and gaming culture. 

If he hadn’t been France’s defining 20th-century statesman, Charles de Gaulle might have made a great comedy straight man. Played by a poker-faced Simon Abkarian in the first instalment of this two-part, bilingual French epic, he carries the air of a man who knows that, yes, that ladder is about to crash to the ground and someone is getting covered in paint. Adapted from Julian T Jackson’s 900-page 2018 biography ‘A Certain Idea of France’, De Gaulle: Résistance is about how the French President-to-be worked himself up through the cracks of history. He’s a captivating and paradoxical figure: a home-front soldier and an unelected democrat who conjures an unofficial mandate for himself through bulldozing force of will and an unwavering belief in himself and his country. HIn UK and Ireland cinemas Aug 28. 

All Points East returns to Vicky Park for its eighth edition in 2026. Since debuting in 2018, the festival has garnered a reputation for building some of the most exciting line-ups in the UK. Its headliners are often indie or dance-focused big-hitters, while its undercards are packed with cult heroes and rising stars you can say you saw first. This weekend Tyler, The Creator headlines on August 28 and 29. Across those dates he’ll be joined by Rex Orange County, Turnstile, Ravyn Lenae, Daniel Caeser, Ghostface Killah, Danny Brown, Mariah The Scientist and more. 

If you thought walking up to your favourite painting in the National Gallery was as close as you could get to a masterpiece, think again. At Frameless, 42 masterpieces from 29 of the world’s most iconic artists are presented in ways never seen before, reimagined through cutting-edge technology, animation and soundscapes. Situated in Marble Arch, Frameless plays host to four unique galleries with hypnotic visuals and a dazzling score, where visitiors can enjoy 90 minutes of surreal artwork from Bosch, Dalí and more, for just £23.60.

Save 20% on tickets, only through Time Out Offers 

Three feature films deep and it’s safe to say that Jane Schoenbrun has created a brand new subgenre of cinema. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is both a continuation of the preoccupations of their first two features and a leap into more vulnerable territory, accompanied by a dazzling step up in the sophistication of the world-within-a-world building. Schoenbrun has form in creating additional media to sit within their films as a source of nurture for protagonists wrestling with secret shames and desires. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a meta horror-comedy and a whip-smart entertainment industry satire.

Johnny Boys is a good-natured attempt to bring the West Coast diner to the mean streets of Stoke Newington. Visually, it’s on point, with luminous orange tiles bringing to mind LA’s legendary Canter’s Deli and Norm’s diner, while Formica tables are tucked into cosy booths and a Coca-Cola-branded sign hangs outside. But Johnny Boys draws not just on blue jeans and Bruce Springsteen, but the Mexican and Jewish immigrant communities of southern California. Which is why the short-but-sweet menu sees taquitos, tostadas and pastrami sandwiches alongside chicken plates, patty melts and cheeseburgers. The food too hits the mark; a crab tostada is piled high with juicy meat and tastes as fresh as anything you’d score in Boyle Heights, while chunky zucchini fries with tangy ranch pay homage to those found at the Greek-run LA institution Astro Burger. If Johnny Boys weren’t so all-American, it’d be instantly worthy of classic caff status. 

There are few more striking spots to catch a movie than the iconic surrounds of the Barbican Sculpture Court. As usual, the City of London’s temple of the arts has an inventively curated line-up in store for the final week of August. On the year’s line-up is a kaleidoscopic array of films and filmmaking styles, ranging from Spike Lee concert docs to Denis Villeneuve science fiction, via the French New Wave and the best of Iranian cinema. Standard tickets are £20 (£18 concessions and £10 for under-18s) and there’s street food to feast on while you sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Turner Prize-nominated painter Hurvin Anderson’s first major institutional show brings together more than 60 of his lively paintings, dating from 1995 when he was an art student at the Royal College of Art up to this year (some he even finished off once they’d been hung). Inspired by his experiences as a Black man of Caribbean heritage born and raised in the UK, they’re big, vibrant pieces that convey a sense of inbetweenness, or ‘being in one place but thinking about another’ as the artist puts it.

Now You See Me Live is a stage-magic spectacular. The grungy, black-wearing aesthetic and branding of the core performers – that’s Enzo Weyne, Andrew Basso, Gabriella Lester and Matthew Pomeroy – as ‘the Horsemen’ serves to give it a more focused, less cheesy vibe than some of the multi-magician West End spectaculars. And they are top-class. At best, the magic on display here is jaw-dropping. There are three tricks that are astonishing. Plus, there’s a tribute to Harry Houdini from Basso that is utterly nerve-wracking to look. Go to have your mind blown by some top-flight magicians. 

Matthew Bourne’s sultry dance reinvention of Carmen has returned to Sadler’s Wells in all its sweaty, grimy glory after a decade off-stage. Set in the 1950s in the fictional town of Harmony – a midwestern Italian-American community where the residents appear to be permanently horny – The Car Man’s plot mashes up Bizet’s passionate opera (it uses the Rodion Shchedrin score with additional music by Terry Davies) with the erotic noir The Postman Always Rings Twice. Packed with Bourne’s trademark theatrics, a smattering of humour, and some unforgettable performances, The Car Man is one of the choreographer’s best works. Sitting through two hours of this spicy show might leave you feeling a bit overheated, but it will be worth it. 

Zylia is the latest from former Kiln head chef and current co-owner of Singburi Nick Molyviatis and restaurateur Barry Karacostas. The former was raised in Athens and the latter is of Cypriot heritage; Zylia is their attempt to marry the two cuisines in a splashy central London location. Both nations are present in the bread basket, with grilled and oiled Cypriot bread and Greek pita puckered with oregano. Bouncy fried balls of Greek metsovone cheese are crunchy and glistening on the outside and stringy and pliable on the inside. A wild prawn saganaki sees juicy shrimps on a tangy tomato and tahini sauce. The main event is a perfectly pink pork chop, cooked on a charcoal grill. Zylia; an effortless new addition to Covent Garden’s coterie of great restaurants. With these guys in charge, it would be strange if it wasn’t.

Cleansed starts with a syringe in the hand of the sloping, scruffy Tinker, some kind of malevolent authority figure in a psychiatric hospital-cum-prison-cum torture den, before said syringe is plunged into the eyeball of the willing Graham. It’s an infamous opening to an infamous play, steeped in the lore of its writer Sarah Kane, whose brutal and bleak dramas in the mid-Nineties redefined theatre and caused no end of controversy. You can read the sharp, shocking scenes as metaphors for Kane’s own time in a psychiatric hospital, for the nadirs of human nature that play out in war zones, for the dark dark places the human mind can go when suffering from adverse mental health. The idea is, though, that love persists, maybe, even when twisted and degraded.

Dulwich Picture Gallery's big summer exhibition will be an intriguing contrast with the pastoral landscapes found in its permanent collection. Portrait of a City is all about American urban life, as documented by photographers between 1907 and 2012. It'll offer a fascinating insight into how big cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco grew from low-rise communities into towering assemblages of skyscrapers and multi-lane traffic. Photos from big names including Diane Arbus, Lewis Hine and Dorothea Lange will chart the faces and sights of cities in flux.

The Royal Academy’s Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam, is the first major exhibition devoted to the often overlooked Victorian artist in more than 50 years. Dadd spent nearly a decade completing works like ‘The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke’ while confined to Bethlem Hospital—better known as Bedlam—after killing his father in a severe psychotic episode. In 1864, he was transferred to the newly opened Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, where he remained until his death in 1886. The exhibition, however, doesn’t begin there. Instead, it returns to Dadd’s days as a student at the Royal Academy Schools, just across from where this exhibition hangs today. While there, he became a founding member of one of Britain’s OG artistic cliques and developed his lifelong fascination with fairies, creating magical, delicate, yet dark works crammed with naughty faces and gossamer dresses. Together, these works remind us that, although Dadd’s body was confined, his imagination never was.